Much of our lives are spent consuming food, including beverages. Ingestion is the primary object. However, there are a number of situations where one wishes to have some additional experience with eating. With a number of people, one can have a conversation associated with the consumption. However, eating alone can be a solitary experience. We have all seen restaurants where the diners are involved in eating and watching television. Children can be recalcitrant when a parent is trying to feed them. To encourage children to eat, various plate designs have been used. Labels on containers are static and limited to having a printed design. Fast food chains have various dishes with graphic designs, such as the latest movie hero. In these situations the diner is involved with stimuli other than the food for different purposes. The other stimuli can involve entertainment, distraction, reward or the like.
For the most part the diner does not have control over what is being presented, as in the case of television, or the presentation is static and quickly loses its attraction, as in dining plate design. In addition, there is an interest in using the period of time in which the diner is eating to present information.
Also, there is an interest in providing dishware, utensils and beverage containers with attractive designs. At dinners, there is an effort to have the china, glassware, and utensils to be properly related to have an attractive table. On many occasions, one is celebrating an event or holiday where the decorations are related to the event or holiday. Having separate sets of china for each event is beyond the ability of most households to afford and store.
Furthermore, one is interested in providing dynamic flexible components, where the programs for the viewer can be readily changed, adapted to particular situations, and expanded, as desired. A personal computer (“PC”) provides opportunities to devise programs that can be related to specific situations associated with dining. Even with the decreasing costs of computers, the computer is still a significant investment to be dedicated to a dining experience. Being able to use available data processing equipment without the investment associated with a dedicated instrument is advantageous. Marrying dishware with data processing equipment already owned by a user provides substantial economic advantages and encourages the combination of food presentation with a programmed data processor.
There are a number of devices that are found in non-analogous art and have found different purposes than providing a dining experience. For example, the game Pong, invented by Nolan Bushnell, was provided as a visual game to allow two players to compete in bouncing a virtual ball against a virtual wall. Such game could be produced in a table form where the players ostensibly could have had food that was supported by the table. However, the potential for food to be present existed, but the food was not associated with the game and the presence of food was incidental to the purpose of device. Other devices have been used to weigh food, such as a food scale. Conceivably, a food scale could have a processor for indicating the weight and allied information, e.g., units of weight, but any visual presentation is limited to weight and not to consumption of food.
An opportunity exists to provide devices associated with food presentation that provide more than support for the food and can be modified in relation to the needs of a particular situation.